This won’t make sense to those of you with practical, grown-up cars – cars that were built in the last decade, cars that seat more than four tiny people, or any kind of estate car. But I’m an ex Mini owner (olden style) which means I have an inherent fear of MOTs. I used to think of it more as an annual report on how much more of the car had rusted away (the answer was always shed loads). At best MOTs were a pain in the arse, at worst a thoroughly depressing and expensive experience. Or maybe I just need to buy better cars.
Anyhow, in our nearest town there’s only one place that does MOTs. For a town of 12,000 people that seemed kind of weird. And they only open two days a week. A friend of a friend (an actual Bulgarian) kindly made an appointment for us and we were assured that it is definitely not A Big Deal here. This was only reinforced by the fact that our appointment was for a ten-minute slot. No, really. And a good five minutes of that was spent checking my paperwork.
If you picture a garage crossed with a McDonalds drive-thru, you’ve pretty much got it. They tested the brakes. Tested the exhaust fumes. Turned all the lights and indicators on and off. Had a quick peek under the bonnet. And voila – here’s your shiny new MOT certificate and that’ll be 35 Leva please. See you next year!
I bloody love it here. I might even buy another Mini!
